Improvement in water-meters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY BURT, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, OALEB S.FITSVORTH, AND THOMAS V. LOWEREE, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,658, dated February10, 1863. 1

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY BURT, of Newark, in the county of Essex andState of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement inWater-Meters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description otl the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a central longiudinalvertical section of a water meter with my improvement. Fig. 2 is atransverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is-an inverted plan ofthe same with the bottom removed to expose the valve and its operatingmechanism to View.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in a certain novel system of valve-operatingmechanism, whereby a slide-valve is moved very quickly to change theopenings of the ports after the stroke of the piston in either directionhas terminated.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

. A is the measuring-cylinder, arranged horizontally and htted with apiston, B, which, having no rod, allows the cylinder to bc perfectl yclosed at both ends. G is the valve-box, constituting a base for thecylinder to rest upon. a a is the valveseat,.extending nearly the wholelength of the cylinder, and having provided in it three parallel ports,b b, and c, the outer ones, b b, communicating' with opposite ends ofthe cylinder, and the middle one with the outlet-passage d, to which theoutlet-pipe e is attached. These ports are arranged lengthwise of thecylinder and extend nearly three-fourths of the length thereof, andhence they only require to be very narrow to give them the requisitearea, and can be closed and opened by a very short movement ot' thevalve. The communication between the ports b b and the cylinder are madethrough two chambers, ff', and hollow bands g g', which partly encirclethe cylinder, several openings, h It, being made from each band to thecylinder. D is thevalve, constructed like the ordinary three-port valveused in steanrengines, except that its proportions ot' length and widthare very different from those of the steam-engine valve, owing to theextreme length and narrowness ot' the ports b b c. This valve, owing tothe arrangement of the ports lengthwise of the cylinder, is arranged towork transversely to the axis ot' the cylinder, and owing to the valvebox being below the cylinder it is arranged in an inverted position, asshown in Fig. 2. It is connected at one end by a vibrating bridle-arm,i', with a fixed stud,j, and at the other end with the longer arm i ofan elbow-lever, E, which is fitted to work loosely upon a fulcrumconsisting of an upright oscillating shaft, F, passing through thecylinder near one end thereof and working in suitable bearings therein,the length of the said arm of the elbow-lever corresponding with thatofthe bridle-arm t'. The shaft F has secured to it, within the valvebox,a second elbow-lever, G, one arm, 7c, of which is connected by a rod, L,with the arm kf, of similar length, also within the valve-box fast uponan upright oscillatingshai't, F', pass ing through the cylinder near theopposite end to the shaft F. The shorter arm l of the elbow-lever E hassecured in it a pin, m, which enters a recess, u, formed between the twoarms k and t of the elbow-lever G. The arm t is made with a V-shaped endto operate in combination with a lV-shaped piece, H, attached to a rod,I, which is arranged within the valvebox in guides a n, which keep itparallel with the length of the cylinder, and this rod I has applied toit a spiral spring, p, which tends to force it toward the elbow-lever G,as far as permitted by a shoulder, q, on the said rod, which comes incontact with the guide a. The shaft F is furnished within the cylinderwith a rigidly-attached arm, r, and the shaft F with a similar arm, 1^.

J is the inletpipe, connected with the valve` box C, and keeping italways full of water. This pipe is supposed to be always open. When -theoutlet-pipe is open, the pressure from the main operates against thevalve and keeps it to its seat; but when the outlet-pipe is closed thevalve is in equilibrio and is free to fall away from its seat bygravitation, and any dirt is allowed to subside into the valvebox, fromwhence it can be easily drawn ott' through a cock or valve provided forthe purpose.

The operation of the meter is as follows:

When the pipe e is opened to draw water, the water from the main iiowsinto the valve-box and through the open port b or b into the cylinder.and forces the piston toward one or other end. As the piston approachesnear to either end ot' the cylinder, it strikes the arm r or r', and byits pressure against the said arm turns the tivo shafts F F7 the twobeing connected by the arms 7c It" and rod L. The shaft F carries withit the elboW-leve1G, the shaped end t of which acts against one face ofthe \/shaped end H of the rod I, so forces back the rod H, andcompresses the spring p until the point t passes the point of H, the pinm in the meantime remaining undisturbed, owing to the lost motionprovided for by the room in the recess n, and the lever E consequentlyremaining stationary. The spring p is then allowed to expand and pressforward the rod l, and cause H to press upon the opposite side of t, andso continue the movement of lever G very quickly; and in this continuedmovement, one or other side of the recess u being in contact with thepin, the lever G carries with it the lever E, and gives the valve, veryquickly, the necessary movement to bring the previouslyopen port Z) or 0into communication with the port c, and open the other port b or b tothe ingress of Water from the valve-chest, thus causing the Water to beshut oi'from one end of the cylinder and admitted to the other, and thepiston to have its movement reversed and to expel the Water in front ofit through the port c. In this operation it will be understood that thevalve is not moved by the direct action of the piston, which would moveit very slowly and could not complete its movement, but by the expansionof the spring p, the compression of which is produced by the movement ofthe piston operatin g through the \/shaped ends t H of the lever Gr androd I, which are the means of determining the length ot1 stroke of thepiston. Fig. 3 represents the position of the parts during the movementot' the piston, to the right.

Vha-t I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. Eft'ecting the movement of. the valve by means of tivo pieces withV-shaped ends and a spring, combined with the piston, to operatemovement ofthe valve very quickly, substantially as herein described.

HENRY BURT. Witnesses HENRY PoWLEs, W. H. FRANors.

